13/05/2015 Stephen Fry ­ Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Stephen Fry From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957)[1] is an English comedian, actor, writer, presenter, and Stephen Fry activist. After a troubled childhood and adolescence, during which he was expelled from two schools and spent three months in prison for credit card fraud, he secured a place at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he studied English literature. While at university, Fry became involved with the Cambridge Footlights, where he met his long­time collaborator Hugh Laurie. As half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, he co­ wrote and co­starred in A Bit of Fry & Laurie, and took the role of Jeeves (with Laurie playing Wooster) Fry in Happy Birthday to GNU (2008) in Jeeves and Wooster. Born Stephen John Fry 24 August 1957 [1] Fry's acting roles include a Golden Globe Award– nominated lead performance in the film Wilde, Hampstead, London, United Melchett in the BBC television series Blackadder, the Kingdom title character in the television series Kingdom, a Nationality English recurring guest role as Dr. Gordon Wyatt on the crime Education The College of West Anglia series Bones, and as Gordon Deitrich in the dystopian thriller V for Vendetta. He has also written and Alma mater Queens' College, Cambridge presented several documentary series, including the Occupation Actor, comedian, author, journalist, Emmy Award–winning Stephen Fry: The Secret Life broadcaster, film director of the Manic Depressive, which saw him explore his mental illness. He is also the long­time host of the Years active 1981–present BBC television quiz show QI. Title President of Mind (2011–present)[2] Besides working in television, Fry has contributed Kentucky colonel[3][4] columns and articles for newspapers and magazines Freeman of the City of London[5] and written four novels and three volumes of Patron of the British Humanist autobiography, Moab Is My Washpot, The Fry Association Chronicles and More Fool Me. He also appears Honorary Life Member of the Union frequently on BBC Radio 4, starring in the comedy of UEA Students Patron of the Lip Theatre Company series Absolute Power, being a frequent guest on Patron of the Norwich Playhouse panel games such as Just a Minute, and acting as theatre chairman for I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, where he Vice­President of the Noël Coward was one of a trio of hosts who succeeded the late Society Humphrey Lyttelton. Fry is also known for his voice­ Honorary fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge overs, reading all seven of the Harry Potter novels for Honorary fellow of Cardiff the UK audiobook recordings, narrating the University LittleBigPlanet and Birds of Steel series of video Honorary president of the games, as well as an animated series of explanations Cambridge University Quiz Society [6] of the laws of cricket, and a series of animations Rector of the University of Dundee about Humanism for the British Humanist (1992–1998) Association.[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Fry 1/23 13/05/2015 Stephen Fry ­ Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Spouse(s) Elliott Spencer (m. 2015) Contents Parent(s) Alan John Fry Marianne Eve Fry (née 1 Early life and education Newman) 2 Career 2.1 Television 2.1.1 Comedy Stephen Fry's voice 2.1.2 Drama 0:00 MENU 2.1.3 Documentaries and other Recorded January 2014 factual programmes 2.1.4 QI 2.2 Film Signature 2.3 Radio 2.4 Theatre 2.5 Audiobooks 2.6 Video games 2.7 Advertising 2.8 Literature Website 2.9 Football 2.10 Twitter www.stephenfry.uk (http://www.stephenfry.uk) 2.11 Acclaim 3 Personal life 3.1 Sexuality 3.2 Politics 3.3 Poland controversy 3.4 Health 3.5 Views on religion 3.6 Business 3.7 Computing and software freedom 4 Bibliography 5 References 6 External links Early life and education Fry was born in Hampstead, London, on 24 August 1957,[1] the son of Marianne Eve Fry (née Newman) and Alan John Fry, an English physicist and inventor.[8][9][10] Fry's mother is Jewish but Fry was not raised in a religious background.[11] His maternal grandparents, Martin and Rosa Neumann,[10] were Hungarian Jews, who emigrated to Britain in 1927; Martin's parents, who originally lived in Vienna, Austria, Fry, upper right, rehearsing a student were sent to a concentration camp in Riga, Latvia and production of A Midsummer Night's [10][11][12] murdered. His mother's aunt and cousins were sent to Dream at the Norfolk College of Arts Auschwitz and never seen again.[10] Fry's father is English, and and Technology in 1975 his paternal grandmother had roots in Kent and Cheshire.[13][14] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Fry 2/23 13/05/2015 Stephen Fry ­ Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Fry grew up in the village of Booton near Reepham, Norfolk, having moved from Chesham, Buckinghamshire, at an early age. He has an elder brother named Roger and a younger sister named Joanna.[15] Fry briefly attended Cawston Primary School in Cawston, Norfolk,[16] before going on to Stouts Hill Preparatory School in Uley, Gloucestershire, at the age of seven, and then to Uppingham School, Rutland, where he joined Fircroft house, and was described as a "near­asthmatic genius".[17] He was expelled from Uppingham when he was 15 and subsequently from the Paston School. At 17, after leaving Norfolk College of Arts and Technology, Fry absconded with a credit card stolen from a family friend.[18] He had taken a coat when leaving a pub, planning to spend the night sleeping rough, but had then discovered the card in a pocket.[19] He was arrested in Swindon, and, as a result, spent three months in Pucklechurch Prison on remand. While Fry was in Pucklechurch, his mother had cut out the crossword from every copy of The Times since he had been away, something which Fry said was "a wonderful act of kindness". Fry later stated that these crosswords were the only thing that got him through the ordeal.[18] Following his release, he resumed his education at City College Norwich, promising administrators that he would study rigorously to sit the Cambridge entrance exams. He scored well enough to gain a scholarship to Queens' College, Cambridge. At Cambridge, Fry joined the Cambridge Footlights, appeared on University Challenge,[20] and read for a degree in English literature, graduating with upper second­class honours.[21][22] Fry also met his future comedy collaborator Hugh Laurie at Cambridge and starred alongside him in the Footlights Club. Career Television Comedy Fry's career in television began with the 1982 broadcasting of The Cellar Tapes, the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue which was written by Fry, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson and Tony Slattery. The revue caught the attention of Granada Television, who, keen to replicate the success of the BBC's Not the Nine O'Clock News, hired Fry, Laurie and Thompson to star alongside Ben Elton in There's Nothing to Worry About!. A second series, re­titled Alfresco, was broadcast in 1983, and a third in 1984; it established Fry and Laurie's reputation as a comedy double act. In 1983, the BBC offered Fry, Laurie and Thompson their own show, which became The Crystal Cube, a mixture of science fiction and mockumentary that was cancelled after the first episode. Undeterred, Fry and Laurie appeared in an episode of The Young Ones in 1984, and Fry Fry signing autographs at the also appeared in Ben Elton's 1985 series, Happy Families. In 1986 and Apple Store, Regent Street, 1987 Fry and Laurie performed sketches on the LWT/Channel 4 show London, on 3 February 2009 Saturday Live. Forgiving Fry and Laurie for The Crystal Cube, the BBC commissioned, in 1986, a sketch show that was to become A Bit of Fry & Laurie. The programme ran for 26 episodes spanning four series between 1986 and 1995, and was very successful. During this time, Fry starred in Blackadder II as Lord Melchett, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Fry 3/23 13/05/2015 Stephen Fry ­ Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia made a guest appearance in Blackadder the Third as the Duke of Wellington, then returned to a starring role in Blackadder Goes Forth, as General Melchett. In the 1988 television special Blackadder's Christmas Carol, he played the roles of Lord Melchett and Lord Frondo. Between 1990 and 1993, Fry starred as Jeeves (alongside Hugh Laurie's Bertie Wooster) in Jeeves and Wooster, 23 hour­long adaptations of P. G. Wodehouse's novels and short stories. Towards the end of 2003, Fry starred alongside John Bird in the television adaptation of Absolute Power, previously a radio series on BBC Radio 4. In 2010, Fry took part in a Christmas series of short films called Little Crackers. His short was based on a story from his childhood at school.[23] He appeared as the Christian God in 2011's Holy Flying Circus. Drama Fry has appeared in a number of BBC adaptations of plays and books, including a 1992 adaptation of the Simon Gray play The Common Pursuit (he had previously appeared in the West End stage production); a 1998 Malcolm Bradbury adaptation of the Mark Tavener novel In the Red, taking the part of the Controller of BBC Radio 2; and in 2000 in the role of Professor Bellgrove in the BBC serial Gormenghast, which was adapted from the first two novels of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast series. In 2011, Fry portrayed Professor Mildeye in the BBC adaption of Mary Norton's 1952 novel The Borrowers.[24] Fry narrates the first two seasons of the English­language version of the Spanish children's animated series Pocoyo.[25] From 2007 to 2009, Fry played the lead role in (and was executive producer for) the legal drama Kingdom, which ran for three series on ITV1.[26] He has also taken up a recurring guest role as FBI psychiatrist Dr.